Given incessant rally in global oil prices, Filipino consumers will have to brace for big-time price hikes next week, especially for gasoline commodity with anticipated increase of P1.05 to P1.15 per liter.

For diesel products, the initial calculation of the oil companies would be a price hike of P0.60 to P0.70 per liter; while for kerosene, it will climb by P0.65 to P0.75 per liter.

The oil companies will implement the calculated price upswings on Tuesday, (June 29) based on the routine cost adjustments already prevailing in the deregulated downstream oil industry.

International benchmark Brent crude surged over US$76 per barrel last week, despite sobering news of additional oil that will be injected to market by Iran; and even with the assurance of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and ally-producers (OPEC+) on increasing production quotas.

This will be the fifth time this month that oil prices will be increased – and that started last June 1 -- for aggregate uptick of more than P3.00 for gasoline; then over P2.50 for diesel and kerosene products.

Just last week, global experts and market watchers already started raising alarm bells on a probability of $100 per barrel oil, given forecasts of exponential rise in demand post-pandemic while supply is on a catch-up mode.

As culled from last week’s Platts report, global oil prices have so far risen by more than 70-percent since the start of the year – and that was despite the fact that air travel has not even back yet to pre-pandemic levels.

Until August this year, Platts indicated that demand will continue to climb – and this will be buoyed by improved outlook for Europe; as well as manifestation of continued economic resilience of the United States, China and Middle East countries.

The demand expansion in the specified economies, it was noted, will provide a counterweight to the sustained depressing impact of the Covid-19 health crisis on India, which is also one of the world’s largest oil consumers.

On prospects of $100 per barrel oil underpinning economies that will be bouncing back from the pandemic, it is seen that countries heavily depending on imports – which is the case for the Philippines – will be miserably impacted.

The domestic oil market is importing almost all of its requirements – and market developments are not working on its favor with relentlessly rising oil prices and a very volatile value of the US dollar versus the Philippine peso.